Installations for the production and/or processing of foodstuffs or pharmaceuticals, i.e., installations with high hygienic requirements, are normally cleaned manually during breaks in operation. Problems typically occur in the process, however, since these installations are often very difficult for the cleaning personnel to access and the installations include a plurality of parts built within a narrow space. Moreover, the quality of the cleaning depends, above all, on the care of the personnel and is consequently subject to undesired variations.
Different, automated cleaning systems are known, for example, nozzles, fixed within the installation, that spray a cleaning agent. In these systems, the ability to clean all corners and angles in the equipment can be limited. As a rule, there are so-called cleaning shadows, which are areas that are not reached during the cleaning. In order to eliminate such areas, a large number of nozzles and feeding pipes for cleaning agents are required, resulting in a complex system that is costly to maintain. Moreover, in systems with fixed nozzles, cleaning the surfaces of the cleaning system itself is required since the cleaning system must be regarded as part of the installation and is therefore subject to the elevated hygienic requirements of the rest of the installation.